VRM Heatsinks

nheather

nheather

nheather

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Joined
19 May 2004
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963
Location
Horsham, West Sussex
I have just purchased a Gigabyte 970A DS3 for a budget upgrade.

I was hoping to keep my upgrade to around the £200 (CPU, MoBo, RAM and HDD) but am already over-budget so not too keen on swapping it for a much more expensive MoBo.

What has taken me by surprise is that there is no VRM heatsink on the 4+1 phase.

Now I look I see this is quite common amongst the cheaper boards - I have just never given it any thought before.

CPU is AMD FX-6300

To be honest, I wasn't planning on overclocking it, maybe a mild increase - but in the past I've always played around but dropped it back to stock because in real terms I didn't really notice the difference.

Even so I am uncomfortable about not having heatsinks on the VRM so am considering my options

1 - Leave it alone, I'm fussing over nothing

2 - Stick some RAM heatsinks on them - like these

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=HS-087-AK

3 - Return the board and replace with one with VRM cooling. Whilst I appreciate this is the best solution, and I may well have ordered a better board had I spotted this earlier, I'm less inclined now because of the hassle and cost of the return.

BTW - the MoBo spec says the board has TDP of 140W
The new FX-6350 (which I imagine is a selected overclocked 6300) runs at 125W TDP

What do you think?

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I would go with option 3 if it is actually an issue.

Try running Prime95 (Large FFT's) with CPU-Z open and see if you get any throttling.
 
Wouldn't know if it were an issue without running the system, and then Option 3 would not be available.

I would only contemplate Option 3 if I were to return the MoBo unopened.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
You can test the board and still return it under the Distance Selling Act providing you notify the retailer of your wish to return it within 7 days of receiving it (cooling off period).

Like Avenged7Fold says you don't really want to skimp on the motherboard with AMD FX processors and especially if overclocking. I've used my FX8320 on a 78LMT-USB3 and even with a VRM heat sink it's difficult to get it Prime stable at 4ghz due to throttling.

You're best off trying the board first if possible before making a decision, if it's outside the cooling off period then it's a more difficult decision but I would still go with a decent Asus board as they are generally the best power delivery wise.
 
What about this board

http://www.************/products/as...r3-sata-iii-6gb-s-sata-raid-pcie-20-(x16)-atx

He seems to have a hefty VRM heatsink.

I am trying to watch the budget though - my original budget was as close as I could get to £200.

I'm currently at £244.

Moving to this ASUS board would take me to £278.

I know it's not much but it is pushing further away from my original goal.

As I siad, I doubt I will overclock, but if I did my target would be 3.9GHz (to match the FX-6350).

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Why don't you try your current board then and DSR it if required?

As far as I know the R2.0 Asus boards are fairly recent releases so they should be pretty good for AMD FX, much better than 970A DS3 that's for sure.

If you aren't going to hammer the processor with a lot of heavy work any board should be fine though.
 
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Thanks for the advice.

I've just posted a specific question on the MoBo forum.

Essentially I'm now thinking

1 - Keep the DS3
2 - Asus 59A97
3 - Gigabyte 970A UD3

I guess I'm torn between option 1 or 3.

3 is a very safe option with 8+2 VRM and heatsink.

But part of me thinks is that as the DS3 claims to support to new FX6350 then it should be able to handle an overclocked 6300 to the same level.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
i've got the ds3 and it throttles if i go over 4.3ghz on my FX6200. i'd go with the MSI 990XA-GD55 if i was buying a motherboard now though.
 
Thanks, that is really useful info.

I was only planning on going upto 3.9GHz just a multiplier change and hoepfully no voltage increase i.e. match the FX-6350.

That should put power at 125W in line with the FX-6350.

The VRM on the DS3 is spec'ed at 140W so should be okay.

So on paper I'm thinking the DS3 should be fine, but my nervousness is saying change it for a UD3.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I have the DS3 running a FX6300 at 4ghz, although whatever I do, if I try for more I get random crashes but not had a problem at 4ghz. Although I have a fan near my VRM's
 
Oh and I do kinda wish that I did spend a bit extra on the motherboard now! But I dont want to get a new one now as I'd have to try and sell mine. So although it will do, if your like me, then it wont after a while. So personally if it was me now, I would change it if I could return it
 
Thanks,

I've arranged to swap it out for a Gigabyte 970A UD3.

Even though I'm sure the DS3 will do what I need, the comfort of mind of a better board is worth it.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
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